Singapore starts 5-year-plan to measure its carbon footprint

SINGAPORE, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Singapore has started a five- year project to measure its own carbon footprint since last November, reports The Strait Times on June 23.

The project, which was initiated by the National Parks Board and cooperates with the National Institute of Education (NIE) and the Austrian Natural Resources Management and International Cooperation Agency (Anrica), aims to set up a monitoring system that can track the amount of greenhouse gases that different trees, soil and possibly even grass could absorb.

Researchers will classify Singapore's vegetation into different categories using satellite images, and collect data from sample land plots by the end of this year to calculate how much of the gases various plant species could absorb.

Experts say that the data could help Singapore take better care of the environment. If the research reveals that a certain plant species absorbs more carbon dioxide, for instance, more could be planted.

"The report will be an attempt to estimate, with the highest possible degree of accuracy, Singapore's carbon inventory," Nature Society (Singapore) president Shawn Lum told The Strait Times.

The findings will be submitted regularly to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, with the first report due by the end of 2014.

The project, which has a total of five phrases, is part of Singapore's obligations as a party to the convention. The Singapore government has pledged to cut emissions by between 7 percent and 11 percent below 2020 estimates of 77.2 million tones per year.